Faculty Handbook: The Budget

Educational programs, need for services, and limits of resources, all help to determine the institutional budget -- an itemized, authorized, and systematic plan of operation, expressed in dollars, for a given period.

Within the organization of the University, the Board of Trustees has the sole authority to appropriate funds, i.e., to authorize expenditures. The Board exercises this function regularly by its approval of the annual budget recommended by the Financial Affairs Committee of the Board.

The budget is a chart of operations for the entire University for each fiscal year (July 1 - June 30) and therefore, departmental budgets must be subordinated to the overall University objectives.

Heads of departments are required to prepare an annual budget of all necessary items of expenditures for their departments. It is highly desirable that they think and plan in terms of a long-range program, at least three to five years in advance, so that funds appropriated for the use of the department may be utilized to the best possible advantage in furthering the educational aims of the University. The budget is prepared after consultation with other faculty and/or staff in the department and is submitted through the appropriate vice president to the Vice President for Business Affairs by the designated date. It should include all requirements for the fiscal year commencing July 1.

Appropriations beyond the originally approved budget for a fiscal year will be considered only in extraordinary circumstances.

The head of the department is the only one authorized to expend department budget appropriations. S/he must sign all required forms personally. Department heads review actual expenditures by accessing budget information on the University's computer system to ensure accuracy and that expenditures are kept within the approved budget.